Is Stress causing you to overeat?
When stress happens in the short term it can actually shut down your appetite by releasing epinephrine, which is also known as adrenaline. But if you have continuous stress it will actually release cortisol. Once cortisol is released research has shown that it can drive eating. Research has also shown that the food choices will be more high fat and sugary foods that we will crave. Over-eating is not the only problem. Once we are stressed out and staying stressed the cortisol levels are not lowered, causing bad sleep which leads to less energy and even consuming more alcoholic beverages. So we tend to eat more, sleep less, exercise less and drink more alcoholic beverages. All this combined can cause us to stop losing weight or even gain weight.
Men and women both cope differently with stress. In studies men tend to smoke or drink more and women are more likely to turn to food. Harvard studies have linked stress and weight gain. In British studies it has shown that people with high cortisol levels tend to snack throughout the day.
Things that can help with stress: exercise and proper nutrition, meditation, social support.
